Jetstar cancels credits even after agreeing to extend indefinitely

afr.com:

Low-cost Qantas subsidiary Jetstar is telling its customers that flight credits incurred during the COVID-19 pandemic have expired, despite having dropped an arbitrary December 31 deadline and in the face of a looming Senate inquiry.

The Australian Financial Review columnist Jennifer Hewett and her partner each received an email on August 24 informing them that $290 worth of flight vouchers incurred during the pandemic would expire on September 6.

Jetstar is still telling customers flight credits have expired. 

But when Ms Hewett tried to use the vouchers, the Jetstar website informed her they were expired.

Calling the Jetstar helpline was equally futile. During a lengthy phone call, a Jetstar representative demanded proof that the original booking was made during COVID-19, requesting emails from three years ago. After asking to speak to a manager, the line disconnected.

Ms Hewett called back and spoke to another Jetstar representative who refused to escalate the query and told her the vouchers had expired and could not be used unless the original booking details could be retrieved.

But on Monday, a Jetstar spokeswoman confirmed the vouchers were not due to expire, claiming the first representative had requested the emails from three years ago to verify Ms Hewett’s identity.

“As we announced at the start of the month, Jetstar COVID vouchers can be extended indefinitely, and we apologise for the error made by our contact centre agent in this instance,” she said.

“We will be providing additional training to the agent and have issued a reminder to our contact centre about our COVID voucher policy.”

Jetstar said customers had been emailed to let them know they can use expired vouchers by phoning the airline to request an